


Harmless

by CharacteristicallyMinor



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-06
Updated: 2014-02-06
Packaged: 2018-01-11 08:47:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1171075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharacteristicallyMinor/pseuds/CharacteristicallyMinor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When everybody is out looking for the big bad wolf, nobody suspects a little old lady.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Harmless

**Author's Note:**

> This ignores Season 3 of Sherlock.

When everybody is out looking for the big bad wolf, nobody suspects a little old lady.

Been seen as harmless gives her a lot of freedom. Nobody questions Mrs. Hudson’s motives. They never put the pieces together. Not even Sherlock, who is normally so very clever, bothers to wonder if there’s something about Mrs. Hudson that he’s missed.

Sherlock doesn’t question the fact that she had her husband killed. He’s seen so many unhappy, ultimately murderous marriages that he seems to have forgotten that it’s not typical for wives to want their husbands dead. Even if their husband did murder a few people or run a drug cartel.. Sherlock thinks she’s a woman scorned, which he has seen many of. Sherlock thinks she wants justice. The poor dear never did understand why she really wanted her husband dead.

The real reason was that her husband was a liability. He was sloppy, and he got caught. She couldn’t have him telling all of her dirty secrets, now, could she? She didn’t want anybody asking her weak-willed husband about whether he had had an accomplice, or how he chose his victims. Mr. Hudson wasn’t willing to talk now, sure. He was too afraid of her for that. But a few years down the line, he might have decided that he was less scared of her than he thought. And she couldn’t have that, now, could she? 

Martha Hudson could have just had her husband killed, but she had enjoyed having the government do her dirty work for her. There were less loose ends that way. And even if she wasn’t anybody’s housekeeper, she did rather enjoy keeping her life neat.

Nobody thought to wonder why little Mrs. Hudson had been attacked by assassins, or how she had managed to stay completely unharmed. They just assumed she was attacked in an attempt to steal the phone. Mrs. Hudson helped that along a bit, by telling Sherlock that she had kept it safe. After all, why else would Americans attack the flat? It didn’t occur to anyone that Mrs. Hudson had spent quite some time in Florida when she was younger, and that she had had plenty of time to make enemies.

Even Sherlock didn't wonder why she was so friendly with the neighborhood assassins. She wasn’t daft; of course she knew that there were people sent to claim Sherlock’s supposed prize. If the prize had existed, though, she would have been the one to take the code.

Mrs. Hudson had more sense than that, though. She knew that the code didn’t exist. It wouldn’t make sense for it to exist. After all, her little Jimmy wasn’t that good with computers, even though he was more competent than his mum. Or, at least, more competent that Mrs. Hudson pretended to be.

Mrs. Hudson had been the one to set her little Jimmy up on a play date with Sherlock. Sherlock was a good boy, but he was too clever for his own good. He was bored all too often, and she thought it would be only fair of her, as his mother-figure, to supply him with something to do. And her own Jimmy had been chomping at the bit for ages. He was always complaining that creating crimes was so simple and boring. He could do it without even thinking, and his mind had never been put to use against a worthy opponent.

Mrs. Hudson didn’t disagree with Jimmy. Crimes were rather easy to orchestrate; it was the intrigue that made her life interesting. She loved spying, taking on roles. Making people trust her and underestimate her. She lived for the looks of realization when people realized that the friendly old lady was actually the one who had defeated them. And when Sherlock realized, it would be exquisite.

If Sherlock did realize, of course. She had set him up on a play date with Jimmy to keep both of them entertained, and she wasn’t yet sure what the outcome would be. She was looking forward to watching the resulting spectacle. She wasn't too fussed with who would win; she knew that whoever lost would deserve their defeat.

When she heard that both boys were dead, she wasn't surprised. She knew that they were both stubborn, her boys, and that if they couldn't win they would at least want to defeat the other. 

Mrs. Hudson wasn't sure that they were both dead yet, though; after all, she hadn't spent time with them because they were easily defeated, now, had she?

She learned that her little Jimmy was dead for sure. Suicide. She was very pleased that he had his fate down to the final moment. She had taught him well.

She wasn't very sad that Jimmy had died. He hadn't been good enough, and so he'd lost. She had raised him to be a winner, and he was worthless if he could be defeated. And after playing with Sherlock for such a short amount of time. Tut, tut. She had expected better of him.

That wasn't to say that she didn't love Jimmy. She thought she had done a rather good job with him, all things considered. He had been ruthless and cruel. She had raised him to be a puppet master, and a puppet master he had been. He had even built himself a nice little empire of criminals. He was pleasing to her. It was just that his death didn't particularly bother her. He had become obsolete, and it was time for a newer model to take his place.

Mrs. Hudson easily discovered that Sherlock wasn't really dead. He had faked his death. It was nothing less than what she had expected of him. He was now planning to go out and kill all of Jimmy's pawns. He had some sort of idea in his head that killing off the snipers would make John safe, bless. He didn't yet understand that Johnny boy would never be safe. He would be a pawn used by every one of Sherlock's enemies while Sherlock still lived, and he would be a redundancy easily disposed of when Sherlock died. Or perhaps sooner than that; she rather thought that he was making Sherlock go soft, and that was just boring.

She'd not have to decide exactly what to do with Johnny until Sherlock returned, though. And it was time for her to make sure that Sherlock was truly being challenged over the next few years. She couldn't allow him to relax and let his mind dull while he was feeling smug about killing Jimmy. That would just be a waste of his talents. And he would be so influencable while he was travelling to kill Jimmy's toys- he'd have no older brother, no Scotland Yard, no John to impose upon him reminders about little things like moral decency and the law. She could easily bring out the jagged edges and twisty thoughts within Sherlock while he was on his little killing spree.

Oh, she was going to have such fun!


End file.
